The Velvet Magnolia
afrolatinaoc x hope mikaelson
summary: the family deal with a sensitive situation.
warnings: mature language, violence
a/n: i hope you guys enjoy the chapter
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Jackson, Mississippi
The Velvet Magnolia
12:34 am | July 2029
"I shoot the lights out, Hide 'til it's bright out, Oh just another lonely night, ARE YOU WILLINGLY TO SACRIFICE YOUR LIFE?"
THE VIBRATION FROM THE music not only boomed throughout the building, it boomed through Kale's head. Eyes were closed, hands gripped the sides of the sink, and thoughts raced like a marathon in her head. She took slow deep breaths in and exhaled slowly to calm the racing thoughts.
The young adult stands up fully and looks at herself in the mirror. She looked exhausted. Dark circles were deep around her eyes. She hasn't been sleeping properly the last couple of weeks, and she had no idea of the cause.
"Yo, Kale, your mother looking for ya" The southern deep voice of her grandfather Dreux Sr. travels through the door.
Kale sighed and turned the water on to wash her hands. She shakes them dry as she steps out the restroom. Damn Manuel always forgetting to order paper towels for the bathroom.
"She say what for?" She voiced loudly as the pair walk back towards the dance floor. Strobe lights flashed the building harshly, if you weren't epileptic before you definitely would be now.
"Didn't ask but it seems serious" Dreux shrugged. The pair made their way through the crowd. Weaving past drunk men and half naked women dancing. Kale stepped over a spilled discarded drink and dodged a burly male stumbling.
The club was at its peak. Vibrant, chaotic, and loud that's the Velvet Magnolia for you. The home of the Blackwell Bloodline for the last three decades. A place of establishment that has been passed down through two generations and will possibly more.
As Kale comes closer to the main office, she felt the air shift and the music started to get muffled. Her vision blurred and her heart started to burn.
This was new, she never felt this before. She stumbled into the hallway of the main office. She collapsed into the cool white brick wall as sweat poured down her face.
"What the fuck" She whispered, voice filled with pain.
Her ear picked the sound of the door behind burst open behind and through her blurred vision, a familiar figure fell down in front of her. The figure was in the same painful state as her but managed it a little bit better than she was.
"Kale..." Dreux choked out in pain.
Kale couldn't even verbally acknowledge her grandfather as the pain intensified. It felt like someone lit a match to her blood. She looked down to see the veins in her forearms were black and bulging. She looked over at grandfather to see the same thing as well as the black veins were bulging on his neck, face, and eyes. His entire eyes were white with black veins showing.
Kale could only assume she looked the same because of the way her grandfather froze in his words.
And then...nothing.
The burning feeling. The pain. All of it was gone in an instant just like that. The pair's eyes returned to normal state and the black in their veins disappeared.
"What the fuck was that?" Kale trembled.
Dreux sat against the wall breathing heavily. His heart still pounding but for a different reason now as realization sets in. He only felt this feeling before as teenager...when his brother was murdered.
Someone is dead. Someone extremely close to them is dead.
Suddenly, Kale's phone starts to buzz in her jean pocket. She scrambles to get it and messages start to flood in from Virgil, her best friend.
V. DuBois
call me asap
V. DuBois
i found your dad. farish street downtown.
V. DuBois
he's dead
Kale sucked in a breath as the words hit her like truck. She was already physically exhausted from what just happened. Now mentally, she's gone.
✎𓂃
Jackson Memorial
3:29 am | July 2029
"...I'm so sorry for your loss"
The words echoed through Kale's head as she just stared at the doctor covering her deceased father with a white sheet. Her family, minus her older brother Omar, stood at the glass all expressionless but carrying the pain in their hearts.
Neveah was holding Scarlette as she stared into the room with tears rolling down her face.
Dreux Messiah Blackwell Jr.
A son. A husband. A father. A grandfather. A man that continuously shared his wisdom throughout the family. A man that was devoted to the family he created and the family he came from.
A familiar figure stands next to Kale with a heartbroken look on his face as well.
"Found him in the alleyway by the library on Farish Street. Stabbed. Store got cameras across the street, but the owner is out of town, flies back in tomorrow" Virgil debriefs.
"Any witnesses?" Kale asked.
Virgil shook his head, "Nah. No witnesses. No evidence at the scene. Seemed like a calculated job."
Calculated job.
Kale sighed, "Alright. Soon as the owner fly in I need you to get to that footage before local PD does. Once the investigators are finished with the scene, go back, and reassess everything. Might be a calculated job but people are always messy."
"Got it" Virgil nodded and patted Kale's back before turning away and walking out the double doors. Kale and Virgil always had an unspoken rule when it comes to death.
Be there but don't be there at the same time.
They don't do the I'm sorry for your loss or my condolences sayings. It did nothing for either of them when it was said. So, they give each other a pat on the back to let each other know they got each other no matter what.
A clear of someone's throat grabs the family attention from the room. Everyone turned around to see two guys in suits behind him.
Detective Connor Nolan and Detective Wesley Waters.
"Dreux Blackwell" Detective Waters announced.
Dreux sighed and then faked a smile, "Detective Waters."
"First, I would like to say my condolences to you and your family. I can't imagine what you people must be going through" Waters said.
You people?
The family chose to ignore the comment due to not wanting to escalate things at the time.
"Second, I just need you people to answer some questions for me. When's the last time either of you seen or spoken to DJ?" Waters asked. His partner Detective Nolan looked uncomfortable at Waters choices of words.
"Around 8pm. Every Friday, he takes the Velvet Magnolia's financial books to a secure location" Neveah answered.
"And where would that secure location be located?" Waters questioned while writing down details in his notepad.
No one answered. Waters didn't like that as he looked up from his notepad.
"I asked a question" Waters insisted.
"We heard you. Ask a different one" Kale spoke in her thick Mississippi accent.
Waters eyes cut to Kale who was staring right back at him. Kale was calm and collected. Not an ounce of fear for the man standing right in front of her. It made Waters uneasy, he was familiar with the Blackwell Family, but Kale was a different breed.
She was unpredictable. Waters didn't like the unpredictable. But he also knew not to test Kale because of her being unpredictable. It's one of the few smart things he knows how to do.
Waters sighed, "Alright...did DJ have any known enemies? Get into fights with anyone recently?"
"No. My husband was a good man did a lot for the community" Scarlette tearfully cried. She wiped the snot from her nose with the tissues in her hand.
Waters subtly scrunched up his face at her statement, "He indeed was. Do any of you have enemies or someone that could do something like this to him? Maybe one of the felons in your life or his daughter perhaps-"
"Detective Waters..." Detective Nolan gasped.
"Are you implying that my granddaughter is responsible for her father's death? Or any of the felons as you call them, in my family?" Neveah fumed.
Even at the comment, Kale still remained calm.
"I'm just asking routine quest-"
"This interview is now over Detective Waters."
A new voice booms through the hallway. Everyone turned to see the 6'4 carbon copy of Scarlette. Omar James Blackwell, well Special Agent Omar James Blackwell. The tall male stepped in the middle of everyone. He towered over Waters and Nolan and neither of them liked it.
"Any further questioning goes through legal counsel which will be at the Blackwell Manor in the morning. If you have any reason to believe that my family members are involved in the murder of my father, then I expect warrants and concrete evidence as well" Omar sharply said.
He then slightly bent down in between the men's faces so they could really understand his next words.
Omar voice deepened, "And gentlemen it absolutely better be by the books because if not, I'll make sure Internal Affairs are able to write your names blindfolded in the dark without hesitation."
Nolan harshly swallowed the spit in his mouth and turned down the hallway fast. Waters glared at each family member before following his partner down the hallway.
Omar exhaled deeply and moved his long coat back to cover his badge. He untensed his shoulders and faced his family. Scarlette's face was red and puffy for the long minutes spent crying. His grandparents were emotionless, but he could sense the grief radiating off them. Lastly, he turned towards his sister. Kale was still. No movement. He knew that wasn't a good thing.
"What's going on up there?" Omar questioned his sister.
Kale exhaled deeply, "I need a blunt bad."
The two siblings looked at each other before cracking a small smile. Omar didn't comment due to his position as an FBI Agent but he secretly agreed with the younger girl.
✎𓂃
Farish Street
3:42 pm | July 2029
"Yes sweetheart I know I have to call the police about the tape of whatever happened" An elder man spoke into his phone on his ear. He twisted the key in the lock and looked up at the reflection in his window.
Virgil was leaned against his blacked out Rolls Royce Phantom. His silver jewelry shined with the hot sun high in the clear blue sky. He wore an all black cowboy hat to shield his face from the sun. His expensive black Cartier sunglasses sat on his nose bridge. It was low enough for him to see you with his eyes but also enough to cover them if you staring directly at him.
"Gregory?"
The low voice of Gregory's wife called his name when she didn't hear a respond from him.
"Um...baby I-I have to call you back. I love you" Gregory stammered. He didn't even let his wife respond before he hung up the phone on her.
A faint smirk appeared on Virgil's face as he smell the fear radiating off the elder man. He pushed himself off his vehicle and walked towards the store.
"Mister Gregory Shepherd...owner of Shepherd's Corner Store" Virgil spoke as he stood in front of Gregory.
"Yes sir, how may I help you?" Gregory gulped.
"You can relax you know, I ain't finna do anything to you. Your cameras might've caught something that could help find out who killed DJ Blackwell" Virgil stated.
"DJ Blackwell is dead?" Gregory gasped. Fear was now really coursing through him. One of the most known people in the Blackwell Family is dead...murdered in front of his store.
"Yeah. I need to look at your security footage" Virgil said.
"Uh...yes of course. Follow me" Gregory agreed quickly and finished unlocking his store. He allows Virgil to walk in before him and locks the front door again. Virgil stepped to the side to allow Gregory to lead him to the back where his office is located.
It wasn't much an office, more like office things in a supply closet. Gregory sat the computer with his security cameras. He wasn't tech savvy but he knew enough to try to keep up with the youngsters.
"The police didn't tell me that someone got murdered in front of my store. If they had I would've been back here earlier" Gregory informed Virgil.
Virgil held onto that information. He watched as Gregory rewind the video to minutes before DJ was killed. DJ was walking like normal, he was walking back towards his vehicle when he was suddenly tossed into the alleyway. Three masked and hooded figures walk into the alley. One gets tossed out the alley and into DJ's truck head first snapping it in an awkward way. Gregory gasped and starts shaking from the things he was seeing.
DJ then stumbles out the alley but gets stabbed from behind. He dropped to the ground and suddenly gets thrown right back in the alley. A couple minutes go by and a blinding white covers the camera and cuts it out.
"What the fuck was that?" Gregory trembled as he stood up from his chair.
"Ou pa reziste. Ou obeyi (You do not resist. You obey)" Virgil chanted. Gregory stood frozen in front of him with his eyeballs fully black. "You will not remember this. I was never here. When the police come you will tell them that something fried your cameras and you have no video from last night. You know nothing of what happened."
"Lage (Release). Dòmi (Sleep)" Virgil whispered. Gregory fell back in his chair asleep. Virgil sticks a flash drive into the computer and downloads the video from software. He also deletes footage of him today. He shuts down the computer and walks out the back door back to his vehicle.
He gets into his Rolls Royce and pulls off.
